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Law360 (July 6, 2020, 8:22 PM EDT) -- Six court employees and at least two attorneys in Pennsylvania's Fifth Judicial District, which covers Allegheny County, have tested positive for COVID-19 since cases in the county took a sharp upward turn in late June, court administrators said Monday.
Two of the cases involved employees at the Allegheny County Courthouse, where most criminal proceedings and some county administration take place; one occurred at the City-County Building, where the civil division and some of the appellate court offices are; one was in the family division; one was in the pretrial services division; and another was at a magisterial district judge's office, said District Court Administrator Christopher Connors.
Two attorneys who worked in the courthouse notified the court that they had tested positive as well, Connors said. An unspecified number of court employees are working from home as a result of potential contact with COVID-19-positive individuals, and even for those without prolonged or very close contact, the court is erring on the side of asking them to self-isolate.
"Because the court is in the unique position of requiring the public to appear in our courtrooms, the court takes a more conservative approach to protect both employees, attorneys, and members of the public. The court has instructed and will instruct employees to stay at home or work from home even when they do not meet the 'close contact' definition under CDC guidelines," Connors said in a statement Monday.
"Each situation is evaluated on a case-by-case basis with all circumstances being considered including distance, duration, size of room, whether masks were worn, etc., to determine who should remain home and who should be notified," he added.
After dropping to only a few dozen new cases per day in June, Allegheny County's coronavirus numbers sharply increased late in the month to their highest levels since the pandemic-related testing began, with health department officials saying most cases could be traced to people returning to bars, clubs, restaurants and travel as Pennsylvania relaxed its restrictions.
The six court employees all tested positive between June 25 and July 5; one additional court employee tested positive in May when all the county's courts were still closed.
Connors said the court was conducting its own contact tracing and recommending employees stay at home under stricter circumstances than the CDC guidelines, such as recommending isolation and testing for people with shorter exposure times or further distancing from positive cases. Anyone experiencing symptoms is asked to stay home even if they have not gotten tested, he said.
In a Facebook post Sunday night, criminal defense and cannabis law attorney Patrick K. Nightingale complained that there had been no notification from court administrators to attorneys and said the courts were a "petri dish on the best of days."
"We are perfect potential carriers as we move from courtroom to courtroom and then from district justice office to district justice office," he wrote.
Connors said the court is working on better ways to notify attorneys.
"While we have been notifying persons beyond the CDC requirements, we are currently working on a plan to communicate positive test results to the bar on an ongoing basis while maintaining the confidentiality of the person who tested positive," Connors said.
A representative of the Allegheny County Bar Association declined to comment.
Though many judges still favored conducting hearings by phone or videoconference, Allegheny County has reopened some of its courts for in-person proceedings, albeit with mask requirements and social-distancing precautions in place.
"The most important steps that we all must take to protect ourselves is to wear our masks or face coverings at all times and to maintain social distancing," wrote President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark in an email to court employees Sunday night. "This applies to all court employees, judges, and persons in court facilities. It has become apparent that this court order has not always been strictly adhered to in the past, but given the current circumstances, it must be strictly adhered to in the coming weeks."
The court of Magisterial District Judge Anthony DeLuca in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, will be closed for two weeks after an employee there tested positive for the coronavirus, Connors said.
All four of the county's Adult Probation Community Resources Centers were closed as a precaution, though no one there had tested positive. The formal arraignment office in the criminal division was still operating but had been spread out over multiple rooms, he said.
--Editing by Jack Karp.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
